The invention relates to a method for monitoring a temperature-dependent resistor, especially a negative temperature coefficient (NTC) resistor for measuring the temperature in the vicinity of a heat source. The heat source involved is preferably a heater for warming up an air flow in a clothes dryer. In addition the invention relates to a method for operating such a clothes dryer as well as to a clothes dryer itself for executing the method.
The use of NTCs in clothes dryers is known for monitoring temperatures in the clothes dryers. The signals of the NTCs are detected and evaluated in a controller typically embodied as a microcontroller and converted into temperatures which then serve as a basis for the control of the clothes dryer. The NTCs are therefore of major significance for the safety of the clothes dryer and are monitored continuously for broken cables and/or short circuit.
Using this prior art is its starting point, the underlying object of the invention is to develop a known method for monitoring a temperature-dependent resistor as well as a method for operating a clothes dryer, as well as a known clothes dryer to execute the two methods in such a manner that the safety of a device with a heat source and a temperature-dependent resistor, especially of a clothes dryer, is further increased.